Fly Jinnah overtakes PIA with 116,000-passenger lead in Pakistan’s domestic market

Fly Jinnah carried more domestic passengers than Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the financial year 2024-25, becoming Pakistan’s largest airline by that measure. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) figures put its passenger total at approximately 1.967 million, compared with 1.851 million for PIA.

The figures gave Fly Jinnah a lead of around 116,000 passengers over PIA, which finished second. Airblue ranked third with approximately 1.004 million passengers on domestic routes, while AirSial followed with 813,000.

Pakistan currently has 37 airlines offering air services, comprising five domestic carriers and 32 international airlines. The local operators are Fly Jinnah, PIA, Airblue, AirSial and South Air. SereneAir has been inactive since October 2025.

In the international market, Emirates holds the largest share of air travel to and from Pakistan. Saudi Arabian Airlines ranks behind it, followed by Qatar Airways.

Emirates operates 39 flights a week from Pakistan, compared with 30 for Saudi Arabian Airlines. Qatar Airways runs 28 weekly flights and Etihad Airways operates 23. The source also reports that Emirates operates seven flights a day from Karachi.

Pakistan’s international aviation market serves an estimated 15 million to 16 million passengers each year. Emirates accounts for approximately 18 to 20 percent of that market, giving it the leading share among airlines serving international travellers.

Annual ticket sales in Pakistan are estimated to bring Emirates around $1.2 billion, without including revenue from cargo. Qatar Airways is estimated to earn $800 million to $900 million a year from Pakistan, while the corresponding estimate for Saudi Arabian Airlines is $700 million to $750 million.

Taken together, foreign airlines receive nearly two-thirds of the revenue from international airline tickets sold in Pakistan. Those revenue estimates concern international travel, while Fly Jinnah’s lead over PIA is based on domestic passenger traffic.

In this publication’s report of 5 October 2025, AirSial led the authority’s on-time performance rankings for the first half of 2025. Fly Jinnah placed second with 59.79 points, followed by PIA in third, Airblue in fourth and Serene Air in fifth.

The CAA said those punctuality rankings were intended to make airline performance more transparent and encourage better service quality. The assessment offered travellers information about schedule reliability, while the authority said regular monitoring of airline operations helped improve efficiency in Pakistan’s aviation sector.